Feminists Offer Praise For Abrams

By CATHERINE S. MANEGOLD

Published: October 15, 1992

Robert Abrams gathered some of New York's most prominent feminists to his side yesterday, seeking to heal wounds left by his bitter primary fight with Geraldine A. Ferraro, and to stress his differences with Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato, a longtime abortion opponent.

The Democratic Senate candidate used the City Hall rally to emphasize his broad commitment to women's rights and his stand on such issues as family leave, the Head Start program and national health insurance. But his earlier depiction of Mr. D'Amato as a "fascist" continued to draw angry comments yesterday from Mr. D'Amato and other politicians as well as some Italian-Americans who perceived the comment as an ethnic slur.

Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former United States Attorney and an almost certain candidate for Mayor, demanded Mr. Abrams issue an "unqualified apology" for the remark. Then, putting aside a longstanding feud with Mr. D'Amato, he gave the Republican Senator his endorsement.

"The use of the term fascist by Bob Abrams was ethnically divisive," Mr. Giuliani said, adding that the comment pushed him "over the fence" and toward his endorsement of Mr. D'Amato. He said the State Attorney General's remark went "beyond the acceptable bounds of even the toughest kinds of negative campaign."

Mr. D'Amato, speaking in an interview with a Jewish-affairs cable program, "The Shalom Show," in Ossining, N.Y., yesterday warned that the remark would "stain" Mr. Abrams "forever," a theme the Senator's campaign also used in a new television advertisement. The commercial seized upon the fascist comment and references to the Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels to accuse Mr. Abrams of using a "deliberate" tactic of "ethnic and religious pandering." It was the latest of nearly a dozen commercials assailing Mr. Abrams's record, ethics and intentions.

In Washington, Mr. Abrams's remark, made to a group of students on Sunday in Binghamton, led the National Italian-American Foundation to issue a statement calling the New York race "one of the most vicious anti-Italian-American campaigns in New York State political history." That group also quoted a joint statement by several Italian-American organizations criticizing Mr. Abrams for declaring "open warfare." 'Lies and Distortions'

Mr. Abrams, meanwhile, repeated earlier statements that he would not apologize unless Mr. D'Amato apologized as well for an advertising campaign that the Attorney General has called full of "lies and distortions."

That stalemate is unlikely to end soon, and Mr. Abrams's effort to shift attention back toward his record only partly succeeded. At the midday news conference on the portico of City Hall, Mr. Abrams was flanked by Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan and Bella S. Abzug. So far, Ms. Ferraro has declined to endorse Mr. Abrams.

"It might be interesting for Mr. D'Amato to read the record of the National Socialists in Germany between the two wars to understand that they exactly replicated his position on choice," Ms. Steinem said in a reference to the Senator's opposition to abortion rights. "The first thing that the National Socialists did when they were elected was to padlock the family planning clinics and declare abortion a crime. His position on choice is exactly the same."

Asked if she was suggesting that she agreed with the characterization of the Senator as a fascist, Ms. Steinem sidestepped. "The Europeans, who have had more experience with this than us, could look at the record and call it that," she said. Misplaced Emphasis

Ms. Abzug said the emphasis on the word fascist was misplaced. But she too drew comparisons with Mr. D'Amato's politics and those of "governments in Europe in the period under the Nazis." She said his "ultra-right positions" were "parallel to the positions taken under those regimes."

Focus on the term irritated both Mr. Abrams and the women gathered. At several points they challenged reporters to confine questions to women's rights, only to have the comparisons come up again.

"We are here because there are serious dangers to the rights of women in this nation and in this state," said Ms. Friedan. "Senator D'Amato has been an enemy of the rights of women even in trying to take away the right of choice even in the case of rape and incest."

Mr. Abrams appeared pleased by the support of some of New York's most prominent leaders of the women's movement. Today, that support will be expanded with the start of an advertising campaign by the National Abortion Rights Action League throughout New York State, using the slogan "Abrams, Pro-Choice -- D'Amato, No Choice.